ARCATA &GT;&GT; Andrew Nelson entered his final start of the season having already accomplished quite a bit in a Humboldt Crabs uniform. His record was unblemished; his numbers were the best on the team nearly across the board.

But like manager Tyson Fisher said after the Crabs' 3-1 win Friday night over the Novato Knicks, "What a way to go out."

Nelson finished a season full of impressive performances with one more for the road, earning his ninth win of 2014 as he allowed just three hits and one run while striking out 10 batters in seven innings.

The left-hander's batterymate, catcher Morgan McCasland, drove in all of the Crabs' runs with one swing of the bat, a booming home run to left-center field in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"It's huge (to finish strong)," Nelson said. "I think you could tell early on I was a little anxious about everything going on considering this could be my last competitive baseball game. ... Stats aside, I just want to go out there and win. I want to accomplish what I set out there to do, and at the end of the day, that's win ballgames."

Nelson certainly did his fair share of winning this season.

His nine wins are the most in a season by a Humboldt starting pitcher since University of Washington right-hander Aaron West — now in the Houston Astros organization — went 7-0 in 2011.

In his two years with the Crabs (2012 and 2014), Nelson didn't suffer a loss, going a perfect 12-0.

But unlike 2012, this season brought a different kind of role for the Arcata High School grad. Instead of being a part-time starter, he was the team's ace. And he pitched like one, too.

"From the first start of the season, there was a little uncertainty about who would be the guy on Friday nights for us," Fisher said. "But (Nelson) got the opportunity and absolutely ran with it. I think every baseball player dreams to go out like that."

Nelson started the game off a little wild, walking the first batter of the game on four pitches and getting behind three of the first four Knicks hitters who came to the plate.

But as he's done all year, Nelson settled in and finished strong.

The lone run Nelson allowed, a solo homer by Novato DH Ryan Schalch in the top of the seventh inning that made it 3-1, momentarily slowed things down. He rebounded well, however, recording his 61st and final strikeout of the season to end the inning.

The half-inning before the Knicks got on the board, it was the Crabs who broke the deadlock.

Following Brandon Hunley singling to right to lead off the sixth and Brian Bynum drawing a one-out walk, McCasland stepped to the plate with the chance to do what he didn't two innings prior — bring the go-ahead run in.

He did exactly that. And a little extra, as McCasland jumped all over a hanging curveball from Knicks starter Nick Russ and sent it soaring over the wall just left of the 394-foot sign for his eighth home run this season.

"I told Nelson before that inning, 'We're gonna get a couple for ya,'" McCasland said. "I had a feeling (a curveball) was coming. The at-bat before that's pretty much all I saw. I think he threw one fastball, but the rest were curves. So I was just sitting on it."

Eureka High School alum Zach Stone came in from the bullpen to close things out. The UC Davis right-hander struck out five of the seven batters he faced, throwing two scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season.

On the night, Nelson and Stone combined to strike out 15 batters.

"They were pretty aggressive," Nelson said. "They were late on the fastball. It's just about making them swim at your pitches out there."

With the win, the Crabs improved to 32-15 on the season. They continue their three-game series with the Knicks tonight at 7 p.m., with fireworks scheduled to follow the final night game of the season.